Olives101.com

By Dan Bryant, Olive psyllid, a serious pest of olives in Mediterranean locales, has been identified on landscape olive trees in Southern California and may pose a threat to the state’s olive industry, according to a University of California, Riverside research entomologist. “Psyllids are some of the most fecund insects I have worked with,” he […]

By Dr. Connie Peraglie Guttersen, R.D., Ph.D. In Sonoma County each year, there’s a special festival called the Blessing of the Olives. That’s how central olive trees and the foods they yield are to the economy and the eating habits of the region. And olive oil is the most treasured gift of these blessed trees. […]

All olives are not created equal when it comes to martinis. A few guidelines: The olive doesn’t flavor the liquor so much as the liquor flavors the olive. If you want olive flavor in the drink, make it dirty by adding olive brine or use cracked olives. Use milder olives in gin martinis so they […]

There are lots of good reasons to stock your pantry with olive oil. Long the most commonly used oil in the Mediterranean (as much as 25 to 40 percent of calories consumed in this region come from olive oil), extra-virgin olive oil’s healthful properties come from rich levels of monounsaturated fat, which promote “good” cholesterol, […]

If you’ve looked closely at the bottle of olive oil in your pantry, you might have noticed a health claim touting the heart health benefits of using olive oil. Under what is termed a “qualified health claim,” the Food and Drug Administration allows bottles of olive oil to display the following statement: “Limited and not […]